Minnesota Golfer - Fall 2020 - 44

BACKSPIN
* BY MARK CRAIG *
Slingin' It With Slamming
Sammy Snead
Fall at Augusta conjures memories of a great past
Masters champion holding court.
T
his hack met the PGA Tour's first 82-time winner
in the spring of 2001, a chip shot from Augusta National's
first tee.
Slammin' Sammy Snead was 88 and still smiling, and still
loving the sweet life of a self-proclaimed Virginia hillbilly. He
had just taken the penultimate swing of his 19-year run as
honorary starter at the Masters when reporters, including this
one, corralled him just outside the famed clubhouse.
What a treat. Thirty minutes of laughter and the kind of
down-home story-telling that made you pray heaven comes
with a bucket list that includes a tee time
with Sam.
This was the year of the " Tiger Slam. "
Young Eldrick Woods was a mere four
rounds from being the reigning champion
in all four majors and 18 years from
tying Snead's 82 victories.
Snead mentioned how he had first met
Tiger when they played a two-hole exhibition
together in Southern California.
Snead was 69. Eldrick was 6.
" If the kid doesn't burn out, he'll be the
greatest golfer the world has ever seen, "
was Snead's omniscient recollection.
When this Backspin column was written,
Sam and Tiger still were deadlocked.
Tiger still was three months from defending
his fifth green jacket in what is the
oddest three words of the kooky COVID-19
sports calendar: A November
Masters.
There will come a day when Woods is the honorary starter
at Augusta, just as six-time winner Jack Nicklaus is now. Let's
hope by then he can learn to entertain a crowd of reporters
the way Slammin' Sammy could. Yes, doubtful.
Sam had us on his hook back in 2001. At one point, he
complained that he hadn't been playing much golf.
When a reporter asked why, Sam said, " Dental work. " When
the reporter asked him to elaborate, Sam spit out his new set
of false teeth and offered them to the reporter.
44
MINNESOTAGOLFER Fall 2020
There was not one pretentious bone in Sam's body.
Early in his career, he once agreed to play a few practice
holes to help promote the Masters. He did so in bare feet,
alarming some and delighting others.
Sam won his first of three Masters in 1949. He thought the
win should come with that fancy green jacket worn by the
members. And so a tradition was born.
In the history of the game, no one loved golf more or played
it at a higher level longer than Samuel Jackson Snead.
His first win came in 1936. He won 135 tournaments
worldwide. He won the Greensboro
Open eight times, starting in 1938 and
ending with his 82nd victory in 1965.
Snead was 52 years, 10 months and 8
days old when he raised that last trophy.
Fifty-five years later, he's still the oldest
winner in PGA Tour history.
Nicklaus called Snead's swing " the
most fluid motion ever to grace a golf
course. " Sam once tried to teach it to Augusta's
most famous member, President
Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The encounter was a staple of Sam's
story-telling, which he recounted for us
one more time back in 2001.
" When Ike addressed the ball, he stood
straight up, " Snead said. " When you do
that, you can't turn. I told him, 'Mr. PresSAM
SNEAD
ident, you've got to stick your ass out.' "
" Two guys say to me, 'Sam, that's the
president of the United States. You can't
use that word.' I said to them, 'He's got an ass, don't he?' "
A year later, Snead hit his final honorary tee shot but was
too ill to hold court afterward. A month later, the man with
the sweetest swing and stories to match passed away four days
shy of his 90th birthday.
Mark Craig is the NFL/Vikings columnist and a golf writer for
the Star Tribune.
mngolf.org
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE USGA
http://www.mngolf.org
Minnesota Golfer - Fall 2020

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